Third: Prohibition and related issues 12. Law No. (44) of 2018 issuing the International Crimes Law12, in Article (23): “Life imprisonment or imprisonment for a period of no less than ten years shall be imposed on whoever knowingly recruits children under eighteen years of age into the armed forces, or uses them to actively participate in hostilities, in the context of an international or noninternational armed conflict related to it. The penalty shall be death or life imprisonment if the act results in the death of the child soldier.” 13. The same law includes provisions stating that it is not permissible to invoke higher orders as a reason for permissibility as a general rule, and the law permits, as an exception, to invoke higher orders as a reason for permissiveness if one of the conditions stipulated in Article (11) is met, which stipulates that “Committing one of the crimes stipulated in this law is not considered a reason for permissibility in compliance with an order from a government, commander or president, whether military or civilian, unless the following conditions are met: a) If the person has a legal obligation to obey the orders of the government, commander or president the meaning. b) If the person was not aware that the order was illegal. c) If the illegality of the order is not apparent. For the purposes of this article, the illegality is manifest in the case of ordering the commission of genocide or crimes against humanity.” 14. The same law in Article (3): “The provisions relating to the expiration of the criminal case and the forfeiture of the penalty by the lapse of the period stipulated in the Code of Criminal Procedure or any other law shall not apply to the crimes stipulated in this law.” 15. NIHR commends the issuance of a special law concerned with international crimes, the scope of which is the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, in addition to the crime of aggression. However, the NIHR hopes that the same provisions related to criminal penalties in the event of recruiting children other than the age set in (OPAC), and the provisions related to the statute of limitations, are all established and expressly stipulated in other laws and legislation such as the Bahrain Defense Force Law and the Reserve Force Law, in order not to be provisions that are limited to international crimes only. 16. In order to protect the best interests of the child, the NIHR hopes to reconsider the reasons for permissibility mentioned in Article (11) of the law to ensure that higher orders are not invoked under any circumstances or conditions. The ends that are intended to be available in the causes of permissibility, although they are based on respecting military orders, they must not be a reason for violating the rights and best interests of the child. 17. As a continuation of the legislative system regarding the recruitment of children, Law No. (1) of 2008 regarding combating trafficking in persons is stated in paragraph (b) of Article (1) that “trafficking in persons is considered recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receiving of persons under eighteen years, or those who are in a circumstantial or personal situation in which their consent or freedom of choice cannot be taken into account, as long as this is for the purpose of abusing them, even if the act is not accompanied by any 12 https://www.lloc.gov.bh/PDF/L4418.pdf 5